No Such Thing As Too Much (A McRoll in the REAL World story)
by sammy1026
Summary: Mary shares a memory with Elizabeth and it sparks a realization.


_Mari & Ilna-thanks for your input and advice on this and every story. You guys are the best and have made every minute in this universe an absolute joy._

 _Sandy-we've been through the lowest of fandom lows and the highest of fandom highs. The highs are definitely better but having someone to commiserate with makes the lows much more bearable. Thanks for always being there in both instances._

 _REAL Worlders-you guys are the absolute best. I'm running out of superlatives to describe you. Your support and encouragement are a gift and I love hearing about the memories these stories bring up for you._

* * *

 **No Such Thing As Too Much (1/1)**

"Thanks again for inviting Joan and me. We had an amazing time," Mary said sincerely, cell phone pressed to her ear, as she moved through the playroom picking up toys and putting them back in their bins. "Joan hasn't stopped talking about it since we got home."

" _It was our pleasure, honey,"_ Elizabeth smiled. " _We loved having you. You're welcome here anytime. I hope you know that."_

"I do." Mary couldn't help but smile because she knew Elizabeth meant every word she said. The Rollins' had embraced her and Joan, and made them feel like members of the family, right from day one. "And I hope you guys are still planning to visit when you come to California next month."

" _Absolutely. We wouldn't miss a chance to see the two of you."_

"This morning Joan had all the dolls and stuffed animals in her playroom lined up and she was telling them about Liz-bet and Jo-sef and Gamma Ang. Oh and of course 'Mo-key'," Mary chuckled. "They're all very excited to meet you."

" _We can't wait,"_ Elizabeth chuckled. _"Though this trip it'll just me Joseph and me. Grandma Ang will be on a casino trip with her senior citizens group and Smokey won't be coming along, though not for Joseph's lack of trying. They're best buds now and Joseph hates the thought of leaving him behind."_

"Sounds like Steve and Catherine with Cammie." Mary nodded her head. "Have you found a dog sitter yet?"

" _We've been interviewing and there are a couple of good possibilities. We should have someone in place soon. That should ease Joseph's mind somewhat though I'm sure he'll insist on a nightly Skype session to check in."_

"Of course," Mary grinned. "How is it having a dog in the house again?"

Elizabeth paused. Until Smokey came into their lives she'd almost forgotten what it felt like to have a pet. A dog was a lot of work, yes, but the laughter and the joy and the unconditional love made it all more than worth it.

" _Really good,"_ she smiled. " _We got him a Cubs bandana and he loves to sit and watch the games with Grandma Ang. Of course that might be because she keeps sneaking him popcorn."_

Mary laughed. "Sounds about right. I put a package in the mail to you yesterday with some pictures Joan colored. I'm pretty sure a few of them are supposed to be Smokey. It's hard to tell sometimes. And I wanted to thank you again for the box of play food that was waiting when we got home. She has enough to put out a real gourmet spread now. It was very generous but you guys do so much for us ... it was too much."

" _Nonsense_. _It was our pleasure,_ Elizabeth said firmly _. "When it comes to family there's no such thing as too much."_

"Well Joan absolutely loves it so thank you again. Oh, and before I forget, did you see the pictures Catherine sent with the new spindles in place along the pathway?"

" _I did. They look absolutely beautiful._ "

"They sure do," Mary agreed wistfully. "There's something magical about those spindles."

" _Steve told me your father designed them. They're absolutely beautiful."_

"They really are." Mary's eyes welled up. "Did he tell you about the tables they had made for Joan and me?"

" _He started to but then we must have got sidetracked,"_ Elizabeth said. _"I'd love to hear all about them."_

"They're so beautiful," Mary sighed. "I will never forget the day they arrived."

* * *

 **Flashback**

"These two big packages have been sitting here taunting me all day. Can I open them yet?" Mary asked impatiently as she perched on the coffee table in her living room. She had one eye on Joan who was playing on the couch with several of her favorite dolls and one eye on the large cardboard boxes that had been delivered earlier.

Catherine had texted the previous night and told her to expect the delivery but not to open anything until they were all on Skype together

"Just a few more minutes," Catherine said apologetically. "Steve's on the phone with the governor."

"Well tell the governor to hurry up," Mary huffed. "The suspense is killing me. They were delivered when Joan was down for her nap and I spent at least thirty minutes trying to figure out if I could open one and peek then reseal it without anyone knowing."

Catherine laughed. "You didn't, did you?"

"No, but only because I don't have any packing tape in the house to seal it back up."

Mary saw Catherine's eyes look away from the screen and her face light up so she knew Steve had entered the room.

"Sorry," he said as his face swam into view. "The governor had a few things he wanted to talk to me about."

"Well tell him to be chatty on his own time," Mary teased. "Can I open these now?"

"Absolutely," Steve replied.

"Help," Joan said excitedly as she scrambled off the couch.

"Yes, you can help, Peanut," Mary told her. "Just wait one minute till Mommy gets the tape cut open with her scissors."

"No," Joan said seriously as she placed her hands stiffly at her sides.

"That's right," Mary said proudly. "The scissors are a no. You aren't allowed to touch them."

She finished slicing open the top of the boxes and laid the scissors out of reach on the bookshelves behind her. Joan helped her pull back the flaps of the first box and as she reached inside to extract the contents hundreds of green packing peanuts fluttered out onto to the carpet.

Joan squealed with excitement.

"Don't put those in your mouth," Mary warned as the toddler picked up a piece of the spongey styrofoam and began to examine it closely.

Mary lifted the item from the first box and noticed it was wrapped in a protective cover. "Should I unwrap this one first or get them both out before I do that."

"Unwrap this one first," Steve answered anxiously. He watched closely, not wanting to miss her reaction.

Mary removed the clips holding the covering in place and as it dropped away it took a moment for her to realize what she was looking at. It was an absolutely gorgeous bedside table. Her eyes were drawn immediately to the beautiful grain in the wood and the exquisite hand carved knob on the drawer.

As her eyes moved lower her breath caught in her throat and she gasped audibly.

Steve squeezed Catherine's hand and smiled broadly. "Do you recognize them?"

"Are those … " Mary's voice broke and she took a few seconds to compose herself. "Are those dad's spindles."

"They are," Steve smiled, thrilled to see how much Mary obviously loved the gift.

"This is … " Mary turned and looked directly at Steve and Catherine on the screen, not even attempting to hide her tears. "This is amazing."

"It was Catherine's idea," Steve said proudly.

"It might have been my suggestion," Catherine said, "but once Steve got on board the idea really took off."

She didn't want him minimizing his role in the gift. As soon as she showed him the tables he embraced the idea and was involved in the process the rest of the way.

"This is … I don't even know what to say," Mary struggled to put her thoughts into words. "Thank you doesn't seem like nearly enough."

"I'm glad you like it," Catherine said softly.

"Like it? I love it. I adore it. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Mary couldn't tear her eyes away from the table.

"The other box is the same thing. We figured one for you and one for Joanie," Steve said excitedly.

As if on cue Joan giggled "Unca 'Teeve. Ann Caf. Look!"

Mary laughed then shifted the laptop so Steve and Catherine could see Joan, sitting on the carpet, covered in packing peanuts which were sticking to her with static electricity.

"You're silly," Mary said as she tickled Joan's belly.

"Silly," Joan repeated gleefully.

"Looks like you have some cleanup to do there," Catherine grimaced. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem." Mary grabbed her phone off the table and took several pictures of a grinning Joan covered in green bits of styrofoam. "Totally worth it," she smiled. "Seriously you two these tables are … I don't even know what to say."

"Check the drawer," Steve said enthusiastically. "I put a little something in there for you. Not sure if it's that table or the other one."

Mary opened the drawer and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"It's this one," she said in a wobbly voice as she reached into the drawer and removed three pictures of John McGarrett helping build a deck.

"The Kayama's gave those to us," Steve said softly. "They found with some old family photos. I wanted you to have copies."

"Thank you," Mary nodded as she bit her lip. "This is … amazing."

"Mama. Box." Joanie said as she attempted to climb into the empty shipping box.

"No, sweetie." Mary scooped the toddler into her arms.

"Kids always prefer the box the gift came in," Catherine laughed.

"That's true," Mary said as she tried to brush green packing peanuts off the squirming toddler. "But I'm gonna make sure I tell Joan all about her grandfather, and these spindles. She'll love these tables as much as I do when she's old enough to understand."

"That sounds great," Steve nodded and smiled. "But right now it looks like you have your hands full."

"I do," Mary laughed. "So I better say goodbye before these peanuts end up tracked all over the house. But really you two … thank you. These tables are amazing."

"We can't wait to see them in place next time we're there," Steve said.

"It' a deal," Mary smiled. "Say goodbye to Uncle Steve and Aunt Catherine, Peanut."

"Bye Unca 'Teeve. Bye Ann Caf." Joan blew a kiss.

"Bye, Joanie. We can't wait to see you. Bye Mary."

* * *

 **Present Day**

" _It was a wonderful gift,"_ Elizabeth said.

"It really was. We'll treasure those tables forever."

 _I'd love to see those pictures of Joan covered in packing peanuts."_

"I'll send them to you," Mary promised. "And speaking of Joan she should be up from her nap any minute so I better go get her snack started."

" _OK,"_ Elizabeth smiled. " _We'll call later to read her a story before bed._ "

"She'll love that. We'll talk to you later."

Mary disconnected the call and immediately started scrolling through pictures to find the ones she wanted to send Elizabeth. As she hit send her eyes caught something occurred to her and she began to scroll once again.

She glanced at the clock.

She never knew what Steve and Catherine would be up to on a Saturday morning but she hoped she'd get lucky and they weren't on a case.

She dialed Steve's number and waited.

"Hey, Mary, what's up? Is everything ok?" he asked when he answered.

" _Everything's fine, big brother. Is Catherine with you?"_

"Yeah. Grace too. We're on a hike. Did you need something?"

" _I just realized … what I mean is it just hit me … and I wanted … can you put me on speaker phone?"_

"Sure," Steve said as he looked at Catherine and indicated with his expression he wasn't sure what was going on.

He pressed the speakerphone button and held the phone out.

"Hi, Mary," Grace and Catherine chorused.

" _Hi guys. I'm sorry to interrupt your hike."_

"You're not interrupting," Catherine assured her. "we're always glad to hear from you."

"How's Joan," Grace asked.

" _She's fine,"_ Mary replied. _"She'll be up from her nap any minute so I'll make this quick._ _I was just talking to Elizabeth and telling her the story of the tables you guys had made for Joan and me."_

Steve and Catherine smiled at each other, still thrilled Mary had been so happy with the gift, and waited for her to continue.

" _She asked me to send her the pictures of Joan with the packing peanuts stuck all over her,"_ Mary said.

Catherine laughed. "Those are really cute pictures."

" _They are,_ " Mary agreed. _"But the thing is, as I was scrolling through the pictures on my phone I noticed something. All the pictures from Thanksgiving with Grace and Danny and the team, then on the plane to New York, at the butterfly pavilion, at the zoo, at the rescue, sitting in Grandma Ang's lap, singing with Nonna and Sal and Angela, playing blocks with Elizabeth and Joseph, doing anything and everything with Uncle Steve and Aunt Catherine … "_ her voice trailed off.

"What is it, Mary? What's wrong?" Steve asked, his voice laced with concern.

" _Nothing's wrong,"_ Mary assured him. _"I just realized … Joan has something I'm not lucky enough to have. Lots of pictures of herself with her family. And that's mostly because of the two of you."_ She cleared her throat _. "I can never say thank you enough. You gave my daughter more aunts, uncles, grandmas and cousins than I could have ever dreamed. And her world … both our worlds … are a lot better for it."_

Steve wrapped his free arm around Catherine and kissed her on the temple.

"You don't have to thank us, Mary," Catherine said, tears stinging her eyes as well. "We love you and Joan and you give us every bit as much if not more than we could ever give you."

" _I hope so … I just … I'm sorry to interrupt your day but I just needed to tell you that."_

"You can interrupt anytime you want," Steve said around the lump in his throat.

" _Thanks. I'll let you get back to it though. Grace, you keep those two in line ok?"_

"I will," Grace promised.

" _I'll talk to you guys later."_

Mary disconnected the call and Grace smiled at Steve as he slipped his phone back in his pocket. "Our family just keeps getting bigger, doesn't it?" she smiled.

"It does indeed," Steve agreed. "And as a very wise woman has told me many times, when it comes to family there's no such thing as too much."

 **THE END**

* * *

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